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Mirror Tower
"Beware the eagle lords, outsider. They are Maalik's earthly disciples, and have entwined the rays of the sun with the flames of Jahannam itself. Give them no offense and they will let you pass, but cross them and your ashes will drift on the desert winds." :- Kuwaiti villager to doomed Spartan Security force heading into the desert. Tactical Analysis *'Heaven's touch': A complex arrangement of polished mirrors and lenses aided by an ambiaric generator, the Mirror Tower focuses and redirects the rays of heaven into a beam of light capable of smiting the Order's enemies and melting through thick steel. *'Blinded by the light': By adjusting the focus of the Talon Steel mirror array, the Mirror Tower can go from projecting a tightly focused beam to a much more diffuse one that is capable of blinding infantry as well as pilots, who end up losing control of their aircraft and crashing into the ground. *'Ready to set up': Originally designed as a heliograph tower, mirror towers are constructed in a mobile form and are designed to be set up fairly quickly. It should be noted, however, that once set up, they cannot be packed up again. *'Not quite perfect': While effective against a large variety of targets, the Mirror Tower is a high end base defence, costly to construct and deploy. It has trouble with large numbers of targets, and isn' all that good when it comes to killing infantry. Operational History December 14 1968 21:09 local, Serbia, File 06A141268U-77 All normal on approach. No sign of hostiles. Private Johnson, sweep the right flank. Private Higgins, you're on point now. Why am I always stuck with point, Sarge? Because you're the biggest target, Private. (General snickering in background). Now get moving. (Several minutes of silence pass, punctuated only by heavy breathing and the occasional grunt of pain from a stubbed toe or barked shin.) (Whispers) Sarge, contact, 11o'clock. It looks like a big tower, ya' know, like the ones in Egypt...? An Obelisk? Yah, that's the one. It's humming, and ... what the ! It's glowing! Uhhh, Sarge?! Permission to break formation?! Permission denied, Private! Whatever it is, don't go any closer! (The humming grows more intense) Sarge, it's - OH SHI- (A loud thunderclap-like sound is heard. At this point the recording cuts off, leaving only static) End of file 06A141268U-77 ACIN file 82210: "Obelisk" On December 14, 1968, Allied Command lost contact with a routine patrol of American Reservist forces in Serbia. The patrol reported having spotted a strange, towering structure. Later investigations determined that the structure was responsible for completely wiping out the squad. After a Vindicator squadron was called in, the structure, which have codenamed "Obelisk", was eliminated and were able to recover what we could of its remains, which have yielded some interesting discoveries. From what we were able to determine from the salvaged remains, the Obelisk is a unique structure that appears to work focusing and redirecting sunlight through an incredibly complex array of precision lenses and mirrors, and finally reflecting the beam with a final mirror at its unfortunate targets. This amplified beam of light is a mystery to our scientists, as it bears many similarities to our own spectrum beams. Who might be responsible for the creation of such a device is unknown, but they undoubtedly have an advanced knowledge of optics, to have been able to design such a powerful weapon of war, although it would appear that our own Spectrum Towers are just as good, if not better. The "Obelisk" may even be an attempt to replicate our own Spectrum Technology. Regardless, it appears to have the capability to melt through vehicle plating at will, although it seems to be limited to targeting one unit at a time. Additionally, the Obelisk seems to be able to adjust the focus of its beam, something which we know due to the fact that one of the Vindicators crashed after its pilot was blinded by the Obelisk and lost control of his plane. Until further information can be obtained, Allied Command has deemed that Obelisks are to be treated as red-level threats by all Allied military personnel. End of File Many, if they were familiar with the organisation that is the Order of the Talon and the structures that its members refer to as Mirror Towers, might think that such a device was inspired by Archimedes' so-called heat ray, or some similarly fanciful origin. It may be somewhat ironic, therefore, that the Mirror Tower has its origins in a mundane device; the heliograph. The invention of the heliograph saw its subsequent adoption by various armies, and the Order of the Talon was quick to catch on. In particular, heliographs were particularly favoured by Talon cells operating in the desert, with the Talon soon developing a number of heliograph towers, utilising Talon Steel mirrors to broadcast messages over long distances. The Talon didn't realise the possible value of their heliographs as weapons until the First World War, when a cell in Turkey, badly pressed by a Cultist attack, ordered its heliograph set up and rigged for maximum range transmissions, then aimed directly at the enemy. It had been hoped that the heliograph would blind or at least unsettle enemies at such relatively short range. To the cell's surprise, the heliograph worked better than expected; most of the cultists were simply blinded, but several were literally set on fire, turned into short lived human torches when the rays of the sun (particularly bright that day) were concentrated on them. Though the incident was a fluke and couldn't hope to be repeated reliably, it did spawn some interest, with the Talon looking into mirror arrangements that would be more effective at focusing the sun's rays, and most notably redesigning the towers to incorporate small ambiaric generators that would amplify the sun's rays. Testing in the desert proved a success, the focused beam of light melting through thick steel with ease. Nowadays, while the Talon has embraced radio as a more effective means of communication, mirror towers are still employed by its desert outposts to some extent, in addition to acting as powerful defences ready to be powered up in the event of attack. Behind the Scenes This structure is an accepted suggestion from Endless Twilight. Category:Buildings